News: Nintendo Announces 3DS Titles for First Half of 2013

Today’s Nintendo Direct presentation ended with a closer look at some of the major 3DS games that will be hitting the system in the early part of next year.

On the retail front, we have Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, the handheld followup to the GameCube launch title. Dark Moon puts the cowardly plumber back into the role of unwitting hero when the ghosts of Evershade Valley run amok after the eponymous moon shatters. As we mentioned in our preview, his new Poltergust 5000 is now outfitted with different strobe lights to take on these mischievous specters, using its new functions to stun enemies and solve puzzles. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon will be hitting stores sometime next spring.

Nintendo also confirmed that Brain Age: Concentration Training will be coming to the console early next year. Unlike the first two Brain Age titles, which focused on improving your mental agility, Concentration Training was designed to sharpen your working memory, which can be accomplished via brief five-minute exercises each day. Brain Age: Concentration Training is slated for release on February 10.

Last, but certainly not least, Nintendo reconfirmed Fire Emblem: Awakening, which will be hitting North America on February 4 (and Europe sometime in April). This installment of the franchise puts players in the role of Chrom, the leader of a band of warriors called the Shepherds. He’ll be defending the kingdom of Ilys from the mysterious undead soldiers who’ve begun plaguing the land. More details on the game will be announced in the coming weeks.

On the digital front, Nintendo confirmed the release of HarmoKnight, Game Freak’s first non-Pokémon effort in roughly six years. The company also announced the bizarre Tokyo Crash Mobs, which will likewise be hitting the eShop early next year. Tokyo Crash Mobs has players chucking unsuspecting bystanders at one another for…some reason. I cannot possibly explain it any more clearly than that, so you’ll probably want to see the game yourself to get a better understanding of its sheer ridiculousness.

Nintendo concluded today’s presentation by announcing another batch of Coin Rush stages for New Super Mario Bros. 2. These two new sets, the Coin Challenge Pack C and the Platform Panic Pack, retail for $2.50 apiece and are available to download right now.

Conspicuously absent from the North American presentation were Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the latest installment in Nintendo’s popular life sim, and Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. This seems to suggest both games won’t be out in the region until at least the third quarter of 2013, which will no doubt come as a disappointment to those hoping to settle down in the forest sometime soon. Europe, meanwhile, will be getting both in Q2 and March, respectively.

So, there you have Nintendo’s gaming line-up beyond the holiday season. What were your thoughts on the presentation, and which games are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!

SLC-NAND Memory isn’t as easy to come by compared to other kinds of memory. However, I think that the game will probably be out in the USA by the end of Q1 2013. The reason is because the translation is done, it went to Q&A a while back, and the Euro release (Which requires English/German/Spanish/French versions) was pushed into Quarter 2 2013. My guess is June for Europe because of the amount of different builds intended for that region. In the US, I expect it to be here in March. Unless something crazy happens and we get it in January.

Luigi’s Mansion will be a solid game and Fire Emblem is always a welcome addition, yet neither is very exciting for me. Meanwhile, games that I do want continue to be delayed (or at least aren’t appearing on the radar yet).

3DS isn’t a bad system… but the game library continues to feel weak. There are plenty of “decent” games, remakes and other stuff that I might pick up on sale and then play “when I get around to it”. But there has been almost nothing that really grabbed my attention and demanded to be played immediately. No “killer app”.

The closest games we’ve seen are Resident Evil Revelations and Super Mario 3D Land, both released many months ago.

Part of the problem is that my favorite games usually aren’t popular genres or are time-consuming to create.

I love original RPGs, but they rarely show up early in a console lifecycle. Classic platform games are wonderful, but usually dominated by a couple of popular franchises instead of seeing new/original ideas. Games like Monster Hunter and Animal Crossing will both keep me playing for months, so delays to these releases are painful.

3DS doesn’t have a bad lineup of games. It’s just not a lineup of games that appeal to me yet. Luckily eShop has provided a handful of gems and backwards compatibility has allowed me to dive into the extensive DS library to fill the gaps.